New Zealand/ OZ Trip

Hey Everyone, am back, been a long time, been a bit lazy not good on health front..whatever you call it as excuses but I've really not updated everyone on what we've been upto and how..!!!

So here goes, last thanksgiving i.e Nov 2007, we had been to NZ/OZ Trip, and it was a gr8 one..

Just before the trip there was a bit of a bummer time..I had developed 'Vertigo'..dont ask me how..??

But this was a week before our travel, when I used to faint, vomit and the whole world guessing if we were expecting(huh?) and we were about to cancel our trip but we decided to go for it..and we went..It was bit shaky all the time I woke up and went to bed..and whenever i looked up at some monument or building..as I used to get that whirlwind fainting sensation :((

We travelled on 17th nov nite and reached NZ on 19th nov...wow u must wonder ..so long travel haan :)..nopes it was a 16 hrs flight but u gain on time when you travel there..!!!

NZ was so welcoming..we first landed in Auckland..in the north island.at night...NZ has 2 islands, North and south Island..and they are only connected by water ...we spend the night at a City Hostel which was like a hotel room, dinner at an Indian restaurant..Tagore..:)!

Day 2, morning we started out to explore North Island more..we headed out to famous Waitomo caves...where underground inside the caves you see the glow-worms..glittering away in the dark! Apparently, these are tiny larvae..not yet grown up and are like egg phase of the insects..and cant fly...they are stuck on the walls of the caves from inside..generally where water is flowing below them inside the cave..they glitter in the dark....they have a mouth and need to feed themselves so they secrete some gluey stuff which drips down towards the water..and this glue sticks to the insects which fly just above the water..the glue holds the insects which these worms pull up, feed on and survive for 9 months after which they grow up, fly, they no longer have a mouth(huh)..and hence they die within 2-3 days!!! Unbelievable..
From here, we saw a sedimentations cave..similar to the one you see near mt.shashta..!

That night we stayed at Rotorua..spent an hour in a Polynesian Spa..ah..that felt refreshing and awesome:))

Day 3, we explored rotorua..the Maori(artificial native) village and there are hot geysers...it was fun...they illustrate how in olden times...a different tribe leader was welcomed..by keeping a Fern leaf on the ground in front of him...if the visitor picks it up, he's a friend else a foe...they go on war with the visitors..!!!
Out of the tourists, they picked rakesh :)) to act as our "chief"..remember we were visitors..luckily for us, our chief was good enough to make friends with them...hehe..you can imagine I wouldnt have been alive writing this blog!!!

After that fun time, we saw some Falls on the way..again beautiful and then we headed on our way to reach to Wellingdon...it was a long drive all the way to the southernmost tip of the north island..this was the capital..so we started afternoon driving...on the way we halted at Lake Taupo...a beautiful village around it..

From far distance, we spotted the "Lord of the Rings" fame Mt. Doom..I was thrilled..
But I didn't know we would be driving very close to it!! We drew right next to the Tongariro National Park where you see the tongariro mount as well as the Mt. doom next to each other ...awesome view..I couldnt stop taking pics and just soaking in the breathtaking view !!

We reached wellingdon early on around 6-7 pm I guess and checked into our YHA Hostel..it was a busy city..checked out a trolley ride up a hill to view the city from top..had a quick bite at yet another Indian bistro restaurant!!

Day 4, morning we had an early morning cruise ride of 3 hrs along with our car to the South island..our adventure more into nature and beauty..and adventure sports..hmm ;)

We reached the Southern top bit..Picton..and we drove to a nearby Mama's something...Clam restaurant..for lunch..I had a bunch of them..yummy..(I did have an upset stomach later though..hehe)

Then we drove to Nelson...again checked into YHA Hostel..since we reached early...we were pretty free...Rakesh decided to have a haircut..we hiked upto the "Centre of Nelson"...for half an hour..this was great..

Day 5, we went to Tasman National Park, took a speed boat to one end hiked back for 2 hrs and then took another boat back to shore! It was lot of fun, scenery was okay.

Then we drove down to arrow town to a nice bed and breakfast place. There were an elderly couple a very nice one.

We explored Queenstown and were looking forward to some fun.

Day 6, we did the Jet speed ride and also the drive down a narrow lane all on your own! You can do a lot of adrenaline activities like bungy or free fall etc.

Day 7, we went to Franz Josef Glacier but didnt take any ride as it was very cloudy.So we drove down to Te Anau.
This was a very small quiet town but very beautiful

Drive was so scenic I still cant forget it.

Day 8, we went on a cruise to Doubtful sounds, it was a 8 hr one and I was wondering how will we spend the time, but time just flew.

Nature was so beautiful, it rained and we saw waterfalls and then we saw the beautiful sounds, huge gigantic mountains sraped one behing the other giving the illusion that they were moving!

Day 9, we saw the Milford sound which is another beautiful place.

This was the last day of our NZ tour, we were dead tired after the cruise and reached our hotel at 12 midnight and we had to get up at 4 to catch our flight out of NZ to OZ!!! We drove a flat 12 hr to reach the hotel.

OZ :Day 1 - we reached sydney and were totally tired of course becoz of our hectic travel in NZ and we couldnt get over it.

OZ was very hot both in terms of weather and people :)
On the first day itself I think we saw everything, Opera house, sydney harbor bridge and also the train station.

Day 2, we went to a zoo. Saw a lot of koalas, kangeroos and the whole lot.
Bird show was amazing!

Day 3, we met up with R's college friend and his wife.
We spent some quality time at the darling harbor and also saw a IMAX movie :)

Day 4, we were winding up and on our way back to USA.

It was a very well planned and spent trip and we would really like to go back there anytime :))

Movies

MOVIETIME Folks...and in this section I intend to talk about those that touched my heart.
Over the last month, I saw 2 movies that were simply great..

PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

Awesome is the only word that comes to my mind! Brilliant screenplay and heartfelt story that keeps you gripped to your chair all the time and you so look forward till the end to a happy ending and they do..!

The closing line in the first movie was "the smallest moment of my life is called happiness.." You've to watch the movie to understand what it means...really nice movie.

The 2nd one is a very interesting plot with captivating actors..intelligent and yet touching..well made..

These movies make you feel so good about being able to watch movies :)